The last hours of a man on Death Row are viewed from multiple perspectives in
Twelve Hours.

Wild Women Writing and Short North Stage will present the world premiere of the Dave Carley
play, opening on Friday in the Garden Theater’s Green Room.

“This play hits a topic that’s a burning issue in Ohio today,” said Katherine Burkman, founder
and artistic director of Wild Women Writing.

“What’s so interesting about this play is how many sides there are to capital punishment,”
Burkman said.

Carley, a playwright who lives in Toronto, wrote the 80-minute one-act as a series of linked
monologues about the people affected by or involved in a young black man’s imminent execution in
the United States.

“Each character represents a different facet of the issue,” he said.

Carley, whose works have received more than 400 productions across Canada and the United States,
will attend the opening performance and participate in a post-show discussion with the audience. To
address issues raised by the provocative piece, discussions will take place after each
performance.

“First and foremost, I’m a storyteller,” said Carley, 59, who also writes for the Canadian
Broadcasting Corp., where he has worked as a radio producer and script editor.

His primary challenge in shaping
Twelve Hours was to build the story while keeping the characters distinct.

“There’s usually an issue I want to talk about,” he said, “but telling stories is what I love
doing the most.”

Burkman directs the eight-member cast.

“Everyone is in conflict,” Burkman said.

The governor (Glen Anthony Garcia) wants to pardon the man but fears he might lose his next
election if he does.

The anesthesiologist (Emily Bach) believes in capital punishment, but her views are affected by
getting to know Jimmy (Taylor Martin Moss), the man to be executed.

The nurse, Rick (Nick Lingnofski), is assigned the task of injecting the lethal drugs.

“Rick is a normal guy who works as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital, but he considers this a
job that has to be done,” Lingnofski said. “Yet, he doesn’t discuss the execution with his wife or
anyone; his wife doesn’t even know that he’s doing this.”

The play is atypical for Carley, according to Burkman, who began producing his plays during her
years as artistic director of Women at Play, Wild Women’s predecessor.

Women at Play, which existed for 12 years under Burkman’s leadership, produced area premieres of
Carley’s
The Edible Woman (2004) and
Orchidelirium (2005). The troupe disbanded in 2006.

Wild Women Writing, co-founded by Burkman in 2006 as Women at Play’s successor, has produced
staged readings of Carley’s
The Last Liberal and
Conservatives in Love (2009), “Dave Carley Shorts” (2010), and
American Detour (2011).

“Carley always writes about important things at stake, but his style is usually a mixture of
edgy material with humor,” Burkman said.

“
Twelve Hours is a serious play about each character having a debate with him or herself —
and the issue is a little different for each one.”

This is the first fully staged production by Wild Women Writing.

“I felt this play was too important not to receive a full production,” Burkman said.

“The play is so moving about these characters so torn over an important issue, where a life is
at stake.”